March 25, 2022
South Burnett Regional Council will hold public consultation meetings in June and July this year to discuss the future of Mondure, Cloyna and Tingoora halls.
The Mondure and Cloyna Hall committees will be invited to assist with arranging public meetings in their areas.
These meetings will try to map out a future path for the maintenance and operation of both halls in conjunction with the communities the buildings serve.
A more general public meeting with Tingoora residents, however, is likely to focus on that hall’s demolition, and the uses proceeds from its demolition could be applied to.
All three halls were built by community groups under trustee arrangements early last century.
Control later passed to local councils when the original trustees died, and the halls were inherited by the SBRC after the 2008 council amalgamation.
While Mondure and Cloyna halls are still actively used by their surrounding communities, Tingoora Hall fell into disuse several decades ago.
Councillors were told the cost of refurbishing the building to meet current building standards was now prohibitive, so demolition was the only practical option.
But any proceeds from the demolition and the sale of the land Tingoora Hall sits on should be spent in the Tingoora community, as the original trustees specified.
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A plea to build a trampoline centre inside the South Burnett PCYC in Murgon has been rejected by both the PCYC and the Council.
Last September, students from Wheatlands State School sent a petition to Council requesting it look into creating a trampoline centre at the PCYC to expand recreational opportunities for Murgon district school children.
Councillors were told this idea had been explored by Cr Kathy Duff and Council officers at a meeting with PCYC staff in April.
The PCYC told the Council delegation that a trampoline centre was considered a high-risk recreation activity, and no other PCYC in Queensland has one because of safety concerns.
But even if safety were not an issue, Murgon’s PCYC had insufficient space to accommodate multiple trampolines catering for different age groups, experience and performance that commercial trampoline centres usually have.
And installing a single trampoline in a permanent safety structure would affect other regular events run at the centre, such as the Murgon Show and the Murgon Country Music Muster.
Councillors resolved to write to the school to advise the students of this outcome.
However, they will also invite them to meet with Council and share any other potential recreational ideas they have.
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The management contracts for Council’s Boondooma Dam Recreation Park and the Yallakool Caravan Park on Bjelke-Petersen Dam will be extended to August 1, 2023.
At the most recent Community Standing Committee meeting, Councillors were told the current contracts were due to expire on August 1 this year.
However, officers recommended that a 12-month extension would allow enough time to consolidate the role of new managers at the dams.
It would also allow them to establish systems and processes to maintain quality and consistent service levels so both businesses can be commercialised at some point in the future.
Both contracts included a clause that allowed for an extension past the expiry date if both parties agreed.
Government regulations also allowed Council to grant a 12-month extension.
